Apparatus for making folded wafers



No. 618,238. Patented Jan. 24,1899.

H. D. PERKY.

APPARATUS FOR MAKING FOLDED WAFEBS.

(Application filed Aug. 17, 1897.)

(No Model.)

L) fltiorney UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY D. PERKY, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

APPARATUS FOR MAKING FOLDED WAFERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 618,288, dated January 24, 1899.

Application filed August 17, 1897.

To all whom, it ntay concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY D. PERKY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of lVorcester, in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Making Folded aters; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a vertical longitudinal section of apparatus embodying my invention. Figs. 2 and 3 are detail views of the gearing in side and end elevation, respectively; and Figs. 4c and 5 are detail views showing the rollers G G.

The object of this invention is to provide apparatus .for making folded wafers from grain, and especially from wheat in the entire or berry form.

The grain or wheat is first cleaned and cooked, preferably as described in Letters Patent No. 548,086, dated October 15, 1895. It is then partially dried in order to render the interior and exterior portions of the berry of more even or similar consistency, in which condition it is ready to be fed to the reducing or shredding rolls which are designed to effect an intimate commingling of the interior phosphatic and nitrogenized layers with the interior carbonaceous or starch portion. The shreds or threads of the material discharged from the reducing-rolls are massed and rolled into ribbons or bands which are rolled in layer form to provide wafers of several plies or thicknesses.

In order to avoid handling the material, mechanism is provided as follows:

The letters A, B, and 0 represent reducingmachines substantially of the character described in Letters Patent No. 502,378, dated August 1, 1893, in which finely-grooved rolls are employed to reduce the grain which is fed into the hopper D to shredded form, the shreds or threads being discharged by means of the combs or cleaners 6, also described in said Letters Patent. The threads or shreds are transferred by means of an endless car- Serial No.- 6l 8,538. (N0 model.)

rier or conveyer hopper F to the band-forming rolls G G, which are not run in contact like the reducing-rolls, but are adjusted apart from each other in accordance with the thickness of the band to be produced. One of the rolls G is usually grooved circumferentially, while the other, G, is plain or provided with shallow elevations or depressions of ornamental configuration. Ascraperordischarger H is provided in connection with the bandroll G in order to clear the band therefrom after its formation.

K indicates the cutter or longitudinal separating-rib, which may be provided on one of the band-rolls, while the other is grooved or depressed lengthwise, as at Z, to engage the cutter as the rolls rotate. The groove Z should be of an even depth with the fine circumferential grooves of the roll in order that the action of the scraper or discharger H shall not be interfered with.

The ribbon or band of material is designed to be separated into even lengths by this cut ting mechanism, and as these lengths are discharged by the scraper they fall upon a traveling band or endless carrier M, which maybe of steel, in order that the wafers formed thereon may be passed through an oven and quickly baked. The oven is indicated at Z.

The driving pulley or drum J of the carrierband is designed to have an intermittent rotary reciprocating motion in order to give the endless band a longitudinal reciprocating movement of suitable character to elfect the folding. At each end of its shaft is provided a gear-wheel N or N, which engage, respectively, idlers P p p, which are in turn engaged, respectively, by segment gear-wheels R and S on the ends of the drive-shaft t. The toothed segments of the wheel S should have a little more than twice the span of those of the wheel R and should alternate therewith in order that the driving-pulley J may be turned forward more than twice as far as it is turned backward, the reversal being effected by means of idlers.

In the arrangement shown in the drawings I have shown the idler P interposed between the gear-wheel N and the drive gear-wheel R, while between the gear-wheels N and S are two small idlers, whose combined diameter is equal to the diameter of the idler P. It will be obvious that by means of these idlers the gear-wheels R and S will drive the pulley or drum J alternately in opposite directions. Other suitable gear may, however, be employed. By this means as the ribbon of the material falls upon the endless carrier it moves with it forward a short distance, then backward the same distance, and then for ward, so that a three-ply wafer is formed with scroll ends. The carrier continuing to move forward receives the first portion of the next length of the ribbon of material, and by its reversals forms another wafer in rear of the first, and in such manner the operation of forming the wafers may be carried on con tinuously, and as the baking may also be efiected upon the carrier on which the wafers are folded in a continuous manner it is evident that these wafers can be finished in shape before they have time to settle.

The carrier-band may be heated in the oven Z by means of gas-jets z or other suitable means.- Z indicates a top baker, which may consist of a second endless band carried and driven by the drums Z and heated by gasjets Z or other suitable means.

The distance between the baking-surfaces of the two bands should be about equal to the thickness of the wafers.

Z designates a discharging-chute at the distant end of the oven, through which the wafers are automatically discharged as the carrying-band passes around its carrying roll or drum.

Having thus described my invention, what Iclaim as new, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is

1. The combination with one or more reducing-machines, and with a carrier or traveling receiver upon which they discharge, of the band forming rolls which receive the product from said carrier or receiver, a traveling carrier which receives the product from the said rolls, and gear whereby the said carrier has a reciprocatory forward movement, substantially as specified.

2. The combination with the band-forming rolls, of the traveling carrier working underneath said rolls, and gear whereby said carrier is actuated to a reciprocatory forward movement, substantially as specified.

3. The combination with the band-forming rolls of the endless traveling carrier-belt working underneath saidrolls, its carrying and driving pulleys, and gear for imparting to said driving-pulleys an intermittent rotary reciprocatory motion, substantially as specified.

4; In a machine of the character described, the combination with the band-forming rolls, one of which has a peripheral longitudinal rib, and the other a longitudinal groove or depression, of the endless traveling carrierbelt working underneath said rolls, and gear whereby said carrier-belt may be actuated to a reciprocatory forward movement, substantially as specified. I

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY D. PERKY. \Vitnesses:

SAML. N. ROGERS, JOHN S. PERKY. 

